The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) by Dan Michaelson (good summer reads .txt) 📗

a deep breath, shaking her head. “I didn’t know about your sister. To be honest, I don’t know that my mother knew either.”

“Your mother being more tightly connected to the Vard than you?”

Looking at Tara and really seeing her—as my friend’s sister, as someone I’ve known for her entire life—made it difficult to reconcile her with what I had seen of the Vard the night before. There was nothing to Tara or her mother that would make me think they were similar to the Vard, that they would share those views. It was almost impossible for me to believe she would have been involved in any of that.

“We didn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I . . . I don’t think it was the Vard.”

She took a deep breath, frowning at me. “Does that mean you aren’t here to bring us in?”

I frowned before shaking my head. “Is that what you thought?”

“I came to the open door to see you standing there, dressed like that, and I’ll admit it was the first thought that came to mind.”

“I don’t have any interest in bringing you in.” I didn’t, though if others knew about her and her mother and their connection to the Vard, I wondered what they might do.

Sadly, the more I learned about the Vard, the more I questioned what I might do.

If they were as dangerous as what I’d seen, I didn’t know if we could leave them. It felt to me that we needed to do something to intervene, though I had no idea what that might be; however, given what I’d seen the night before, I had gained an increased understanding as to the nature of the Vard’s threat.

“Then what—”

“Here you go,” Sophie said, racing toward us. She shoved something toward me, and I took it without thinking much of it—a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese. She grinned at me. “I’m sure I can get you some sausage, though that’ll take a little while for me to heat up. I don’t want to let that dragon get too angry.”

I smiled at her. I was hungry, and the bread smelled delicious. I knew what kind of cheese they made and enjoyed the flavor. As I chewed, my stomach continued to rumble, though not nearly as much as it had before.

“I should go and visit with your brother,” I said.

“You could wait here,” Sophie said.

“I think he needs to go,” Tara said.

“Are you trying to send him away?” asked Sophie.

“I’m not trying to do anything, Sophie, but he came to visit with Joran. We should let him be.”

“He came to see all of us, Tara. Maybe even you.”

Tara looked over at me, and I smiled at her. It had been a while since I’d seen her, and she had matured in that time. When I was growing up, I had always teased Joran about the way he looked at my sister, and even before I left, I had teased him a little bit. There was an age difference, though it wasn’t quite as pronounced the older we got. My sister deserved somebody who understood that she had more to offer than just her ability to cook and clean and maintain a house. It was why I had encouraged her to go to Berestal, where she could apprentice with the weavers. It would give her an opportunity to do and be more than what she could have done had she remained.

As I looked at Tara now, I saw her in a different light. She was a hand or so shorter than me with a curvy figure and a lovely face. She watched me, a question burning in her eyes I couldn’t quite answer.

But she was also a reminder of whom I had been and where I had been. Though I still missed some aspect of my home, I felt as if I still needed to keep doing what I was doing within the capital. I needed to keep training to better understand the dragon magic that flowed within me. I needed to understand that power, if only to learn how to help the kingdom even more.

It was only through that connection that I’d be able to find a way to help Berestal, and a way to help my family. That was what I wanted.

“Of course I came to see all of you,” I said. “Though I’d be even more thrilled seeing you, Sophie, if you ran and got me that sausage you promised.”

She laughed. “Joran didn’t leave that many, so you’re going to have to take what you can. I can heat them quickly.”

I smiled at her, and she hurried off, leaving Tara standing with me again.

“It’s been different with you gone,” she said softly.

“How so?”

“Joran has been different. He was better after he came back from his trip with Father, but only for a little while.” She looked past me, staring out toward the field. “He lost some of his playfulness.” She shrugged. “He says he’s growing up, but I don’t know. I think it has more to do with you leaving.”

“That’s not fair,” I said.

“I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m saying I think he realized he had to change. He won’t admit it, but when you left, I think Joran decided he needed to grow up a little bit.”

“I can’t say that’s a terrible thing for him.”

Tara smiled slightly. “He’s still living here though. I have tried to encourage him to go to the city. He does want to chase your sister, after all, but I think he’s afraid.”

“Afraid of my sister?”

“Afraid of you.”

I frowned. “Why would he be afraid of me?”

“The two of you have been friends your entire lives. I think he worries about what might happen if he were to chase after her.”

“I doubt that troubles him all that much,” I said.

“More than you know.” She looked past me again and nodded. “Now that he’s coming back, you can talk with him.”

I turned and saw Joran and his father, Bernt, heading toward